Video interview tips for the week before it happens
The video interview tips that change your result are the boring ones. Fix the camera height and the light, dress the way you would in the room, clear the frame, then spend the rest of your preparation on 6 specific stories. What actually changes is the format, and there are three.
If you only have 10 minutes
Raise the camera to eye level, put the light in front of your face, sit somewhere quiet with a plain wall behind you, and say one story out loud on camera. That is most of the gap closed.
The short version
- Camera at eye level, light in front of you, nothing behind you that moves or reads as clutter.
- Dress for the role exactly as you would in the room, lower half included.
- Look at the lens when you speak, at the screen when you listen.
- Prepare 6 stories rather than 40 answers. The format decides how you deliver them.
- You can ask for a different format, more time or the questions ahead. It is a normal request.
One-way, live human, live AI: three different tests
Most advice about online interviews assumes one format and quietly fails on the other two. Read your invitation first, then read the column you are in.
| What changes | One-way (on-demand) | Live with a person | Live with an AI interviewer |
|---|---|---|---|
| How it runs | You record answers to a set list of questions on your own schedule | Real time, both of you on the call together, like a video meeting | Real time, two-way, with follow-up questions built from your last answer |
| Who sets the pace | A timer does. HireVue says candidates get several minutes per question | The interviewer does, and you can ask them to slow down | The conversation does. Ours says out loud how long is left |
| Retakes | Sometimes offered, sometimes not. The invitation will say | None. It is a conversation | None. It is a conversation |
| What gets rewarded | A tight, complete answer with no preamble | Rapport plus evidence, and good questions back | Specifics you can defend when the next question digs into them |
| What to practise | Answering a blank camera in 2 minutes without rambling | Eye contact at the lens and leaving pauses for the other person | Being concrete about your own part, because the follow-up will ask |
| Where it usually comes from | An emailed link with a deadline on it | A calendar invitation with a meeting link | A booking link you choose a slot in, then join in the browser |
The one-way format is also called on-demand, pre-recorded or asynchronous video interviewing. Same thing, four names.
The setup checklist, done the day before
Most online interview tips fail because they are read 4 minutes before the call. Video interview best practices only work the day before, at the hour you will actually interview.
- Test the camera, microphone and connection on the real device, not a different one
- Charge the laptop or phone fully, or plug it in and leave it plugged in
- Raise the camera to eye level, on books if that is what it takes
- Put your light source in front of your face, never behind your head
- Sit so a plain wall or a tidy corner is behind you
- Wear headphones to kill the echo, and check they do not cover your face
- Close every other application and silence notifications on both screens
- Tell the household, shut the door, and move anything that might walk into frame
What to wear for a video interview
Indeed's guidance is the one to follow: dress professionally, the same way you would for an in-person interview. A camera does not lower the bar, it raises it, because there is nothing else in the frame to look at. Whatever you would have worn to their office for that specific role is the right answer here too.
Dress the lower half as well. Indeed spells out why: you may need to stand, and the odds of that go up the moment a delivery arrives or a laptop needs rescuing from a cable. That is really the whole of how to dress for a virtual interview. Online interview outfits are not a separate category of clothing.
Clothes that survive a webcam
Do
- Solid, mid-tone colours that sit clearly against whatever is behind you
- One layer you can take off, because a closed room with a laptop gets warm fast
- The same standard of outfit you would wear in their building for that role
- A last check in the camera preview rather than the mirror, because the lens crops differently
Do not
- Very bright or saturated colours, which Indeed advises against and which the camera pushes further
- Fine repeating patterns, which can shimmer and crawl once video compression gets hold of them
- Bracelets and rings that knock the desk, since the microphone is usually closer than you think
- A top the same shade as your wall, which merges your shoulders into the background
- Dressing only from the waist up, which is fine right up until you stand
Backgrounds, and whether to blur
Blurring is not unprofessional. Zoom ships a Blur option inside its virtual background settings, and Microsoft Teams offers Standard blur and Portrait blur from the pre-join screen or mid-meeting. Both are ordinary, documented features. Use one when you genuinely cannot control what is behind you, such as a shared flat or a room you do not own.
It is not free, though. Zoom requires the virtual background feature to be enabled and the device to meet its system requirements. Teams documents real limits: not available on Linux, not available through optimised VDI, and on Android it needs version 10 or later with a listed GPU. Blur also frays at the edge of a moving head, most visibly around hair and gesturing hands.
A real background beats any effect. Indeed tells candidates to position the webcam so they have a neutral background free from distractions, and to adjust the lighting to reduce glare. HireVue adds the other half: put the light in front of you, because lighting from behind makes you hard to see. A blank wall or a shelf you have tidied both qualify. Nothing behind you should move.
What the interviewer actually sees
A real live AI video interview, recorded in The Cognitive: the AI interviewer and the candidate on camera, side by side.
Our own interview room checks camera and microphone on a pre-join card, with a level meter that confirms the microphone is working, and it shows 4 setup tips: a quiet, well-lit space, headphones to avoid echo, clear speech, and a stable connection. Frame yourself the way the tile frames you.
How to prepare for a video interview in 5 steps
This is the whole preparation, in order. Most video interview advice about how to do a video interview is a variation on step 2 or step 3.
- Read the invitation properly Work out which of the 3 formats it is, whether retakes are offered, how long you have per question, and what the deadline is. The format changes what you practise. One line in the email such as "record your answers by Friday" tells you it is on-demand.
- Write 6 stories, not 40 answers Six situations you owned, each with a decision in it. Most video job interview questions are a door into one of those 6, so you rearrange rather than recall. A launch that slipped, a call you got wrong, a fix nobody asked you for.
- Say each one out loud, on camera, once Record yourself on the device you will use, then watch it back. HireVue tells candidates to do exactly this, and to use any practice questions the platform offers. You are listening for preamble, filler and the moment you stop being specific.
- Run the room at the real hour Do the setup checklist at the same time of day as the interview. Light changes. So does the noise outside, and so does who else is home.
- Book the sharpest hour you can, and ask for what you need If you get to choose the slot, choose when you think clearly rather than when the diary looks empty. Then send any accommodation request before the day.
Worth knowing
You can ask for a different format, extra time or the questions in advance. EEOC guidance says the applicant makes the request, in plain English, at any point in the process, and asking earlier leaves more room to arrange it. HireVue tells candidates the same.
Video interview examples, and what a strong answer shows
Six questions you should assume are coming in some form. The wording changes; what the answer has to prove does not.
Tell me about yourself.
A 60 second arc that ends at this role. Where you started, the 2 moves that mattered, what you do now, why that points here. No childhood, no full chronology.
So what made you leave the second one?
Why this role, and why now?
Something specific about the job that you could only know by reading it properly, tied to work you have already chosen to do. Enthusiasm without a detail reads as filler.
What else did you apply for?
Tell me about a time something you owned went wrong.
The decision that caused it, in your own words, plus what you changed afterwards. Naming your own error early is what makes the rest of the answer credible.
Who found it, you or someone else?
Walk me through a decision you made without enough information.
The 2 options you weighed, the fact you would have wanted, and what you did to cap the downside. A clean answer here is rarer than a clean success story.
What would have changed your mind?
What is the hardest thing you have shipped?
Your part separated from the team's, in plain language, with enough mechanism that a specialist would recognise the work. Scale alone is not difficulty.
Which part of that did you personally build?
What do you want to know about the job?
Two questions you could not have answered from the careers page. What the first 90 days contain, and what happened to the last person in the seat, are both fair.
Why does that one matter to you?
A 60 to 90 second answer skeleton you can copy
HireVue tells its candidates they get several minutes per question, and most people spend the first one clearing their throat. For the full framework behind this, read the STAR method page.
1. CONTEXT, one line. "At [company], we [situation], and [the thing that made it hard]." Say it once. Do not set the scene twice. 2. YOUR PART, one line. "I owned [the specific piece]. [Name] owned the rest." This line is what separates you from your team, and it is the line most people skip. 3. WHAT YOU DID, 4 to 6 lines. "First I [action], because [the constraint that forced it]." "Then [action], which meant [trade-off you accepted]." "When [the thing that went wrong], I [what you changed]." Keep it in order. Keep the verbs yours. 4. WHAT CHANGED, and how you know, 2 lines. "After that, [what was different]." "I know because [the measure, the review, or what the team stopped doing]." If you have no number, say what you saw instead. An honest observation beats an invented figure. 5. STOP. Silence at the end is fine. In a live interview it invites the follow-up you want. In a one-way recording it saves you from the rambling last 30 seconds that undoes the rest. TIMING CHECK Read the filled version aloud. Under 60 seconds, add mechanism to section 3. Over 90, cut section 1 to a single clause.
Notes on the desk, and what happens to the recording
Notes are fine, scripts are not. One page of bullets just out of frame, or stuck to the wall beside the lens, keeps names and numbers within reach. A written-out answer does the opposite: reading is visible in your eye line and audible in your cadence, and it costs you the follow-up, because a scripted answer has nothing behind it to dig into.
Assume you are recorded and that the hiring team will watch it. That is the premise of the one-way format, and live rounds are often recorded too. If the detail matters to you, ask the recruiter who sees the file and how long it is kept. HireVue states that it never uses the video of your interview to identify you, sometimes called facial recognition. Other vendors set their own policies.
Some platforms also log integrity signals during the session, such as time spent away from the camera. This is not a trap. Reading your own notes on the desk is normal behaviour and looks like it. Leaving the room mid-answer, or having a second person appear in frame, is what those signals exist to catch.
What the hiring team sees afterwards
A scorecard: each criterion scored out of 5, an overall out of 100, and a recommendation.
On The Cognitive the evaluation criteria are fixed for the role before anyone is interviewed, while the questions and follow-ups adapt to what each candidate says. Afterwards there is a recording, a transcript with speaker labels and timestamps, and a scorecard with a "Verified in this interview" section.
Nobody has ever been hired for their lighting. Good setup only stops the format taking points off you; the 6 stories are what puts points on.
What video interviews are good and bad at
The honest advantages and disadvantages, since most thoughts on video interviews skip one side. In your favour: no travel, no half-day off, and with on-demand video interviewing you can record at 10pm if that is when you are sharp. Employers use video interview screening because it compresses a first round that would otherwise take weeks, so you usually hear back sooner.
Against you: no room to read, no corridor talk, no way to tell thinking from a frozen connection. Where scoring is automated, the rules depend on location. In New York City, an employer using an automated employment decision tool must have had a bias audit within the past year, must notify candidates first, and must publish bias-audit information. Other states and cities set their own rules, so check yours.
Practise before it counts
Free live AI interview · Preparing for an AI interview · Video interview questions · The STAR method · Video interview software
Frequently asked questions
What is a video interview?
A video interview is a job interview conducted over video rather than in a room. It comes in 3 forms. A one-way or on-demand interview, where you record answers to a set list of questions on your own schedule. A live interview with a person, which HireVue describes as happening in real time with both of you on the call, similar to a video meeting. And a live interview with an AI interviewer, which is two-way and asks follow-up questions.
What is an on-demand video interview?
It is the format where nobody is on the call with you. HireVue defines a one-way video interview, also called on-demand, pre-recorded or asynchronous, as one where pre-determined questions are handled by technology rather than a traditional interviewer. You record each answer against a timer, and HireVue tells candidates they get several minutes per question. Some setups allow a retake and some do not, so read the invitation before you start.
What should I wear to a video interview?
Dress the same way you would for an in-person interview for that role, which is Indeed's guidance and the safest video interview dress code there is. Indeed advises avoiding bright colours and busy patterns in favour of softer tones. Dress the lower half too, because standing up happens more often than people expect. Solid mid-tone colours separate you cleanly from the wall behind you.
What should I wear to a Zoom interview?
The same as any other video interview: what you would wear in their office for that role. Two things matter more on a small tile than they do in a room. Pick a colour that does not match your wall, or your shoulders vanish into the background. And check yourself in the Zoom preview rather than a mirror, because the lens crops tighter than you think and a collar that looks fine standing up can sit oddly on camera.
Should I blur my background for a virtual interview?
It is not unprofessional. Zoom ships a Blur option within its virtual background settings and Microsoft Teams offers Standard blur and Portrait blur, so both are documented, ordinary features. Use blur when you cannot control the room. Be aware of the cost: Teams says background effects are unavailable on Linux and through optimised VDI, and Android needs version 10 or later with a listed GPU. Blur also frays around a moving head and hands.
What is the best background for a video interview?
A real one. Indeed's guidance is to position the webcam so you have a neutral background free from distractions, and to adjust the room lighting to reduce glare. HireVue adds that the light should come from in front of you, since lighting from behind makes you hard to see. A blank wall, a closed door or a tidied shelf all work. The test for any virtual interview background is simple: nothing in it moves, and nothing in it invites a question you did not want to answer.
How do I prepare for a video interview?
Five steps. Read the invitation and identify which of the 3 formats it is. Write 6 stories rather than 40 answers. Say each one out loud on camera once and watch it back. Run the full setup checklist at the same time of day as the interview, because light and noise change. Then pick the sharpest hour you can, and send any accommodation request before the day.
Can I keep my resume nearby during a video interview?
Yes, and it is one of the few genuine advantages of the format. Keep a single page of bullets just out of frame or stuck beside the lens, holding names, dates and numbers. What does not work is a written-out answer. Reading shows in your eye line and your cadence, and a scripted answer leaves nothing for the interviewer to follow up on, which is usually where candidates win.
How do I practise for a video interview?
Record yourself answering on the device you will use, then watch it back. HireVue advises the same and tells candidates to use any practice questions the platform offers. Indeed suggests a practice call with a friend or family member, and asking them for candid feedback on your appearance and eye contact. For online interview practice in the live AI format, you can sit through a free two-way interview on this site before the real one.
Are video interviews recorded, and who sees the recording?
Assume yes on both counts. Recording is the entire premise of the on-demand format, and live rounds are often recorded too, then shared with the hiring team. If the detail matters to you, ask the recruiter who has access and how long the file is kept. HireVue states that it never uses the video recording of your interview to identify you, sometimes called facial recognition. Other vendors set their own policies.
How do I ace a video interview?
Stop trying to. The setup work only prevents the format from costing you points: eye-level camera, light in front, plain background, headphones, a quiet room. The points themselves come from 6 specific stories, delivered without preamble, with your own part clearly separated from your team's. Practise one of them on camera tonight and the rest of these video interview techniques follow from what you see.
What are the best one-way video interview tips?
Read each question to the end before you press record, and note 2 beats you want to hit. Keep answers to 60 to 90 seconds, built on one specific example with a result you can state. If retakes are offered, spend one on the first question to warm up, then trust your momentum on the rest. A pause before you start reads far better than filler once you are recording.
Are AI video interviews harder than interviews with a person?
Different rather than harder. There is no rapport to build and no interviewer mood to read, which many candidates find fairer. In a live AI interview the follow-up questions dig into what you just said, so rehearsed surface answers fall apart and real reasoning holds up. If you do not know something, reason out loud from what you do know. You can sit a free practice interview on this site first.
Explore: Async vs live AI video interviews · HireVue interview guide for candidates · What is an AI interview? Interview AI explained · How to prepare for an AI interview · Video interview software · One way video interview: how it works · Live AI video interviews, 4 formats compared · Questions to ask the interviewer · What makes you a good fit for this position?